Why Many Family Businesses in Cameroon, Do Not Survive Their Founders (Part 14)

The Fight In The Family Of Late Business Magnate, VICTOR FOTSO, Over The Huge Family Business He Left Behind, Even Started When His Corpse Was Still Lying In The Mortuary

Some Children Of Late VICTOR FOTSO At Home Played Smart, Took Advantage Of The COVID -19  Period, When Most Of The Children Abroad Could Not Travel Home For The Burial

  Even The Will Of Late VICTOR FOTSO, Sparked A Big Dispute In The Family, As Some Children And Widows Strongly Suspected That It Had Been Tempered With.

No sooner did the multibillionaire or business mogul, Victor Fotso, die at a hospital in Paris, France in March 2020 than 18 his 25 widows were at daggers drawn. The first problem was over the date of their late husband’s funeral. 18 of the 25 women and their children rejected the funeral programme of Victor Fotso, which was fixed for late June in Bandjoun. They were furious that a faction of the children led by Maptue Fotso Nicky Love, who had replaced the father in politics as Mayor of Bandjoun, fixed the funeral programme without consulting them.

More so, Victor Fotso died at a period that the world, including Cameroon, was being shaken by the COVID – 19 pandemic, which had led many governments across the world to highly restrict movements, especially out of the country. So many of  Victor Fotso’s children in Europe, the  United States and other parts of the world, were strongly of the opinion that the funeral programme of their father be delayed, because it would not be possible for them to travel to Cameroon in that month of June, because of the Coronavirus (COVID -19) travel restrictions.

But the faction of the children in Cameroon led by Maptue Fotso Nicky Love that fixed the funeral programme for June 2020, insisted on going ahead with the programme. The only modification they were willing to accept, was that only the burial  of their late father takes place in the month  at his  compound in Bandjoun, Cameroon, while the funeral or ‘cry-die’ could be delayed. It seemed that the small faction or camp in the Fotso Family led by Mayor Maptue Nicky Love, that insisted on the burial of their late father in June, also wanted to take advantage of the fact that most of their brothers and sisters out of the country, would not be able to travel to Cameroon because of the COVID – 19 travel restrictions, and so they would have everything fully under control. The main interest in the whole thing was seemingly the business empire that their late father, Victor Fotso, left behind.

 The Disagreement Over Funeral Programme Goes To Court

The 18 widows of late Victor Fotso that were against the funeral programme fixed in June 2020, hired a Paris based Franco – Cameroonian lawyer, Apolin Pepiezep Pehuia, who filed a motion in a Paris Court, to block the planned removal of the corpse of late Victor Fotso from a mortuary in Paris, by the small faction of the Fotso family that supported the plan to bring home the corpse for burial in June 2020. The small faction led by Maptue Fotso Nicky Love, also hired their own lawyer, and a legal battle thus sparked off between the two factions in the Fotso family, over the burial programme. Observers saw the conflict as also being a fight to see, or to show, who was who in the Fotso family. It was clear that some children of the deceased business magnate were trying to position themselves, in the control of the huge estate that Victor Fotso left behind.

 Mayor Maptue Fotso Nicky Love Accused Of Exploiting Her Political Connection, To Impose Her Will

Maptue Fotso Nicky Love, the daughters of the late business mogul and CPDM bigwig, Victor Fotso, who replaced the late father in politics as Mayor of Pete Bandjoun, and two of her sisters from the same comb that included Laure Toukam Fotso epse Njitap (Geremi Njitap), were alleged to be the brains behind the planned funeral ceremony in June 2020, at the height of the COVID – 19 pandemic in Cameroon and the world. The retired international football star and former Indomitable Lions’ player, Geremi Njitap, was quite active in the matter besides his wife. He was so active in a way that one could have easily mistakenly taken him for a son of Victor Fotso, instead of the son – in- law.

Meanwhile as aforementioned, many of Late Victor Fotos’s children living in the United States, Asia and Europe, explained that it would not be possible for them to travel to Cameroon for the burial of their late father in that June 2020, because of the travel restrictions imposed by the Governments of those countries where they were based, because of the COVID – 19 pandemic.  But Maptue Fotso Nicky Love and her small group, based in Cameroon, would not listen. Maptue was accused by her other brothers, sisters and step mothers who were against the burial programme in June 2020, of exploiting her new position and connection as  Mayor of the CPDM – run Pete Bandjoun Council in Koung – Khi Division, to Influence the administration of Koung– Khi Division and officials of the ruling CPDM, to back her funeral programme.

Interference Of Ruling CPDM And Local Administration

And that was what really happened. It happened that while Barrister Pahuie, on behalf of 18 of the 25 widows of the late Victor Fotso filed a motion in a court in Paris, to block the planned removal of their late husband’s corpse, the CPDM Section President of Koung – Khi North, Hon Albert Kouinche, went ahead and convened a party meeting in Bandjoun on June 6, 2020, to prepare for the burial of the late CPDM bigwig and Mayor of Bandjoun, Victor Fotso., which was billed for later that month. He also invited the other CPDM Section Presidents in Koung – Khi, to the meeting.

It should be noted that he CPDM meeting took place in the Conference Hall of Koung – Khi’s Senior Divisional Office in Bandjoun, in the presence of the local administrative authorities. This also clearly showed that the local administration backed the funeral programme, fixed by the faction of the Fotso Family led by Mayor Maptue Nicky Love Fotso. The big faction of the Fotso Family, which was against the burial programme fixed for late June 2020, flared up. They described the CPDM meeting that held on June 6, 2020 in Bandjoun, as interference in the internal affair of their family.

Victory Of Maptue Fotso Nicky Love’s Faction In First Fight

Suffice to say that despite the wrangling over the funeral programme of the late business mogul, Victor Fotso, CPDM bigwig, former Mayor of Bandjoun, and Bandjoun notable, the small faction of the family led by the new CPDM Mayo,r Maptue Nicky Love Fotso, succeeded to impose their funeral programme. The corpse of Victor Fotso was brought home in a hired aircraft from France, and buried in his native Bandjoun in June 2020 as the faction had planned.

Speaking off record, some Government officials had expressed the view that scheduling the funeral of a colossus like Victor Fotso, during a period when the Coronavirus pandemic was hitting the country was not a rational idea. But some others, who backed Mayor Maptue Fotso Nicky Love and her funeral programme, argued that nobody then knew what the Coronavirus pandemic would be brought under control, and as such the Fotso Family could not continue to wait.

There was no doubt that the Maptue –led faction had the support of the ruling CPDM party and to an extent the Government, even though the Government did not make any official statement about the wrangling over the funeral programme. It should however be noted that without the visa of the CPDM Government, it could not have been possible for  the  corpse of late Victor Fotso to be brought home from France in June 2020, when the Coronavirus pandemic was causing havoc all over the place. Even Cameroon had at one point (March 2020), forced to close all its international airports to international flights, because of the ravaging COVID – 19.

In fact the Cameroon diplomatic mission in France reportedly intervened at the level of French authorities, in support of the programme to take the corpse of Late Victor Fotso to Cameroon in late June 2020 for burial. That was the reason why the French authorities allowed the corpse to leave at that delicate period of the COVID -19 pandemic.

It should be noted that the late colossus, Victor Fotso, did not get the type of befitting burial that he deserved, because of the division in the family and the COVID – 19 pandemic that kept many people away or at a distance. It should as well be noted that even the leaders of the faction of the Fotso Family that planned the burial for June 2020, and who also went ahead with the funeral, admitted that the COVID -19 pandemic greatly affected the funeral. She promised that a grand and befitting funeral would be organised later for their late father, when the COVID – 19 pandemic would be over. That has not been done till date, as the Fotso Family has known no real peace since then.

  Controversy Over The Will Of Late Victor Fotso

Meanwhile, another big controversy that sparked off in the family of Victor Fotso after his death was over the WILL that he left with the lone notary (a woman) in Bafoussam, the headquarters of the West Region. The big faction of the Fotso family that had been opposed to the burial programme of Victor Fotso in June 2020, had, also called for a delay in the reading of the will that he left with the lone notary in Bafoussam. They strongly argued it would be better to do so, when the COVID – 19 pandemic would have been curbed. At that time, many of the children of the late business magnate living abroad would be able to come home, so as to also pay respect to their departed father.  But again the small faction of the family led by Mayor Maptue Fotso Nicky Love, that imposed the burial programme in June 2020, rejected the proposal, and the notary was invited soon after the burial to present the will.

In the supposed will that was presented  by the notary, a  young son of late Victor Fotso was named as the next – of – kin, while Mrs Laure Toukam Njitap, wife of former professional footballer and former player of Cameroon’s senior male national football team (Indomitable Lions), Geremie Njitap, was declared as the Administrator of the estate  of  Late Victor Fotso. Curiously enough, Mrs Laure Toukam Njitap, is from the same womb with Mayor Maptue Fotso Nicky Love. The big faction of the Fotso Family cried foul.  They strongly argued that it was difficult to imagine that their father,  the Patriarch Victor Fotso, could have designated Maptue Fotso Nicky Love to replace him in politics as Mayor of Bandjoun, and again designate her sister from the same womb as Administrator of the huge Family Business (Fotso Group), he left behind. The big faction of the Fotso family that cried foul, expressed the conviction that  a mafia had taken place, or better still that the  small faction of  the family led by Mayor Maptue  Fotso Nicky Love, had allegedly struck a deal with the notary to temper with the will, or  better still, to illegally make changes in the Will.